New Developments
by Yecart
Summary: Richard Castle insinuates himself more deeply into Kate Beckett's life and they realise how much they need each other as oppossed to simply wanting each other. With some distractions and incidents along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Kate Beckett wasn't in a good mood. It was just before 7am and not even coffee was helping. To say she was annoyed would be an understatement. She was not only grumpy from lack of sleep, but frustrated as hell.

Why did Castle have to be so charming all the time? All she wanted to do was stay angry at his flippant remarks and unwanted attention, but after last night, she wasn't sure what she thought.

Sipping her coffee and moving back to her desk to sit and think, Kate closed her eyes and thought back to the previous evening.

_It was just after eight and she'd only been home for forty minutes or so when there was a knock at the door._

"_Castle?"_

"_Kate, hi, ummm...I brought Chinese," he said with a cheesy smile._

_And wine._

"_Oh, umm, come on in Castle,". _

_At the time Kate had been tired and hungry and didn't have the energy to roll her eyes and tell Castle to give her a break. So in he came, and eat they did. _

_Time passed relatively quickly in his company and before she knew it she was giggling and having a good time listening to crazy stories about Castles past. _

"_So Beckett, tell me, what did you get up to before you had me to brighten up your day," he said smiling._

_She lowered her head and contemplated her answer. He waited as usual staring at her. Before long she realised she hadn't actually answered and so attempted to reply in a nonchalant way._

"_You know, I don't actually remember all that much about before, you've been hanging around so long," she had smiled back._

"_Must be all my charm distracting you from being able to remember," he was baiting her._

_Tonight she wasn't going to be baited. So she smiled slyly and replied "Must be it Castle, do you always have this effect?"_

_He turned and looked at her but he wasn't smiling anymore._

"_Normally I would have a really good comeback for that but... I think you should know that I'm not the charming womaniser to the extent that I actually do take bimbo's offers, I'm not after that."_

_It came out of nowhere. She hadn't known what to say. Or why he was being so straight with her, or even if he was._

"_I'm not sure I believe that Castle, and I don't know why you're telling me that, but OK."_

_She had tried to steer the conversation away from that topic but it must not have worked. The next thing she knew Castle was back to the serious personal again._

"_So then, does that mean that with you being the one and done type that you're not one to let your heart get ahead of yourself?"_

_His question even put subtly was flustering. He was basically asking her if she was as slutty as the character he portrayed in his Nikki Heat novels. She decided to play coy._

"_That would be telling Castle," she looked away from him and picked up her glass of wine that he had supplied._

"_Guess I'll just have to find out then," he smirked. _

_She'd been shocked at his audacity to assume that he could just worm his way into her heart. Even though deep down whether she would admit it or not he sort of already had. _

"_Will you let me find out Kate?" he moved closer to her on the couch._

"_Castle I.."_

"_Rick," he interrupted._

"_Rick, I'm not sure this is appropriate, w we .. we work together and this isn't us, you've never...we've never. I..," she was lost for words at his proximity, her eyes focussing on anything but him._

_Where was the strong willed angry Kate Beckett persona that she'd use when things got too heated? She'd jumped ship; her brain hadn't been with her on this one._

"_Sure, Kate, I get it. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything I thought that maybe... we, ah, look I'm just going to head off, go home, be at the precinct early and yeah," he stumbled towards the door embarrassed that he'd put them in a situation that he didn't have the guts to finish. _

_She followed him over to the door confusion etched on her face, she knew this wasn't right that she couldn't leave things like this and face an awkward day at the precinct tomorrow. He'd practically said straight out that he wasn't a womaniser and it made sense that he was trying to see how perceptive she would be._

_She just needed time to think about this, was it what she wanted? _

"_Castle, wait," she reached out to him._

_The moment was getting awkward, she didn't offer any more explanation to stop him leaving and he just stared at her, whilst she held onto his forearm._

"_I'm sorry," he whispered._

"_For what," she had whispered back._

"_This," and he'd kissed her. _

_It was pleasant and overwhelming and wonderful. It lasted a fair while though she'd been so caught up she wouldn't have known if it went for 10 seconds or 30. _

_He'd eventually pulled back looked at her, and smiling simply said "tomorrow,". _

_She'd been dumbfounded and simply nodded repeating his sentiment; he'd quickly kissed her forehead, and walked out the door. _

How had an unplanned evening of Chinese food and wine, with good conversation gotten so awkward and serious like that? She never would have thought Castle would try and get serious about them. Better yet, what would she say to him when he turned up? She didn't even want to think about it, and yet upon inspecting the clock it was already 8am and he could show up anytime now. Damn.

"Yo Beckett, you've been sitting there looking into that cup of coffee for half an hour already, getting bored or something?" Esposito grinned.

"Ah, no I just have paper work I don't want to start, because I know as soon as I do Castle will show up," she tried to say in her most annoyed tone.

"Oh well, too late for that Castle's already here," he stated matter of fact.

"He is?" she knew it sounded slightly nervous but she couldn't help the slip.

"Yeah, in the break room, been making coffee for the last twenty minutes, now I come to think about it," he quipped.

"Oh" was all she could say.

"You guys are acting pretty suss, what's going on, he's never here this early, and you never just sit," Esposito queried.

"What's going on and who is suss, and is it juicy?" Castles voice piped up behind her causing her to jump.

"You and Beckett, you've been acting all jumpy and different," Esposito raised his eye brows in suspicion.

Castle quickly looked to Beckett and smiled and then looked back to Esposito.

"What? You think me and Beckett have a thing," he said pointing between himself and Beckett.

"Yeah Esposito when did you become such a sucker for gossip and crude observation? You been hanging out with Lanie or something?" Beckett said whilst inspected her nails then looked up at him.

"I'll be good," Esposito replied and quickly left.

She snickered as Esposito scurried away; she knew that he and Lanie were sort of dating though Lanie hadn't put a label on it.

"Good work Boss lady," Castle winked and sat down in his chair next to her.

Feeling slightly awkward that the previous evening was still in her mind, Beckett quickly righted herself to think back to paper work.

"There aren't any murders Castle, maybe you could go work on your novel or something," she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I would but I'm stuck at the moment, you know, on a difficult scene," his brows furrowed.

"Oh, well I doubt you'll get much inspiration here," she sighed.

"You never know, you might let your guard down and the next scene for Nikki Heat will be well underway," he smiled at her.

"What do you mean Castle? What scene is this exactly," she questioned eyes squinting.

"ah, well, umm, it's basically Nikki and Rook dancing around their non relationship, I'm working the angle with Nikki being unsure of Rook's overall intentions and trying to figure out a way that he can prove to her that he doesn't want anyone else; ever," he looked away from her.

"Oh, well maybe he just needs to be more serious about things, you know, as a character," she answered.

"Yeah well, she can't really expect him to change, but at the same time, maybe she doesn't know him as well as she thinks she does," he said off-handedly.

"May be not, but if she doesn't know him well enough then that's a problem all on its own," she huffed.

She realised the parallels that he was drawing and again wonder if last night was just another ploy to further his novel and get her in situations and see her reactions. She decided quickly that may be last night was just more 'research'.

"Look Castle I'm busy I don't want to play these games with you right now, I have enough work cut out for me as it is," she spoke harshly.

"You're angry," he looked surprised.

"I'm not angry I just want to get on with work, you know that thing normal people do during the week," she stated sarcastically.

"Look if you think this is me being all 'read between the lines' with you, it's not. I really do have an issue with the scene. If this is you thinking I am being coy about last night than you are wrong. I won't lie, I'm attracted to you Kate, and I don't want to rush in and ruin things and make you think that I am some womaniser who doesn't do real. Because I want real, I want real; very much. You're real Kate," he says, sincerely.

She was taken aback by his frankness. She didn't expect such an honest answer especially when she was being short with him.

"I need more coffee," she stood and walked to the break room.

She was running. Castle saw it, but he knew now wasn't a time to let her stew. He followed her to the break room.

"Kate. Just hear me out, there is no way this isn't bothering you, I think that's obvious. I just hope it's bothering you because you feel something too and you want to give me a chance. I know that I'm not a cop and that I'm not what you expected, but this is real Kate," he wasn't going to let this slide, he was chasing her.

"Castle...Rick, I, I need time to think about this, it's all confusing and I don't understand myself, and I hate that, I hate being unsure, of wanting things that I shouldn't want," she replied desperately trying to hide how upset it was making her.

"Hey hey, don't start panicking," he whispered as he moved closer. "We can take it slow, I'm not asking you to drop everything and come chasing after me, I just want you to know that if you want me, I am all yours, that I don't want anyone else," he looked at her affectionately.

She took a big breath letting in out slowly and looked up at him again; she was terrified of this, of these feelings he seemed to pull out of her.

"I, umm, wow," she whispered dropping her face and looking at his chest.

"Come here," he beckoned, and she rested her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Don't be frightened of this, it doesn't change anything, it just means you know where we stand and I have a legitimate reason to break face if Demming tries anything," he smirks.

She snickered into his chest "macho Castle."

"I knew you'd like it," he bent down as she looked up and kissed her.

She pulled away from him then, rubbed noses and said "later."

He nodded and repeated "later," as she let her hand drop from his chest, and walked out of the break room.

He realised it was her way of saying; she accepted the feelings and the 'thing' they seemed to have going, but she needed time and he knew she'd need reassurances. He was willing to wait as long as it took for her to see how serious he was about this.

Kate hoped she could follow up on that promise later and not chicken out or remind herself of reasons she couldn't fall for Castle. She sat back down at her desk only noticing Coffee put down next to her minutes later by Castle before he squeezed her shoulder and left.

Kate smiled to herself; he could be really sweet sometimes. This is what happened every time she decided to be tough and ignore him, she ended up more involved then she'd been before.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the day had been quiet; it was almost as if Castle knew he wouldn't be missing any murders. Though she supposed she would have called him if there had been one. Speed dial one, when did that happen? It just seemed like everything that has been going on began and ended with Castle. There was no in between. The scary thing was that Kate realised she liked it that way.

Ryan and Esposito had already left for the night and due to her many day dreams she'd lost track of the time. It was after 6pm she wanted to see Castle, but decided she needed to talk to someone about the relationship. She picked up the phone and dialled the familiar number.

"Parish."

"Lanie it's me," Kate replies

"Hey girl, you still upstairs because if you are; we're going out."

"Actually that was what I was calling about, thought you might want to grab something to eat and chat, you know catch up."

"Why do I detect this is one of 'those' chats?"

Damn her, and her perceptiveness.

"Can't a friend ask another friend to have dinner with her, and not have an issue?" Kate knew it sounded lame.

"Whatever, you just get your booty downstairs and tell me all about it," and she hung up.

Kate sighed. Telling Lanie meant that she was accepting or at least thinking about it enough for it to be an issue. Lanie knew there was something up, it was only a matter of time before she would be giving advice and making her feel better about it all.

Downstairs Kate immediately spotted Lanie in her coat ready to go. Lanie smiled back at Kate and gave her a look, and they were off to the burger place around the corner.

"Oh no! A big bowl of fries means you got something on your mind girl! Spill, you know you want to talk about it, so what gives?"

"It's Castle. The other night he turned up at my place with Chinese and wine, and we were talking and laughing and he was telling stories, it was nice," she got it all out in one breath.

"That's all? Come on Kate I know you, what's happened to get you so worked up?"

"Well, it's nothing really, you know not that big of a deal. It's just, Castle kind of made his move last night," Kate sighed.

"WHAT! What kind of move was this exactly Kate," Lanie was getting excited.

Kate rolled her eyes; Lanie was always ready for a bit of girl chit chat.

"Well we were just talking and somehow the conversation got more serious, and he was asking about my heart, more of less he was asking if I ever just threw caution to the wind and followed my heart," Kate didn't look at Lanie instead looking down into her big bowl of fries, thinking back.

"Please tell me this actually leads to the juicy part," Lanie was impatient.

"I'm getting there! He said that, and then he said something like 'will you let me find out'. It felt really cliché and I was shocked that he'd just turned the tables on me and I didn't know what to say. I spouted off some crap about it being inappropriate and that we work together and that we'd never been like this towards each other."

"Then what happened?"

"Then he seemed to just lose his nerve, the confidence all of it, just seem to fly out the window. It shocked me more that he was acting so nervous and shy. It took me awhile to realise that he was seriously putting it out there. I didn't want to leave things so awkward, he'd caught me off guard and was going to leave," Kate seemed distressed like she was reliving the evenings events.

"Did you stop him?"

"I got up and followed him to the door, told him to stop. Which, he did. He just stared at me, and I forgot to speak after that, and he was looking at his arm and I felt so stupid, I'd put my hand on his arm to stop him from leaving and I just forgot everything," Kate sighed dismally.

"What happened then Kate? What did Castle do?

"He, he told me he was sorry."

"What, he backed off completely?" Lanie asked astonished.

"No, quite the opposite actually; he apologised and then when I asked about what he was apologising for he kissed me," Kate looked away again.

"So writer boy finally made a move huh?"

"What do you mean finally?"

"Oh come on, you know that boys had it bad for you since day one!"

"That's not true, he's been with all sorts of bimbo's since I've known him, he has never seriously been interested, and he is writing a book chasing after a character he has created!"

"You don't seriously believe that Kate. I think you're worried because last night you saw Castle being serious, about you. You're worried because you just might be feeling the same things," Lanie smiled mischievously.

"Oh Lanie, I don't know how I feel, he's being all mature all of a sudden, today he came into the precinct and told me not to be afraid, pretty much put it all on the table, we, we had a moment and I kissed him again. I told him that we'd talk about it later," she mumbled.

"I'm guessing it's getting close to later?"

"Well he left after that, he just seemed to know I'd need time and space, he reads me quite well," she smiled.

"Girl you need to get your ass over to Castle's and talk to him, it's pretty clear to me that you're smitten, I don't see the real issue here. You trust him don't you?"

"Yeah I guess I do trust him, I feel safe with him. But what happens when he finds something that interests him more than me, I can't compete with the slutty bimbos who are always after him," she seemed to be getting worked up again.

"Girl, you have nothing to worry about. That man adores you, follows you everywhere, and writes a book about you, he thinks you're extraordinary!" Lanie made her point.

"I know, I just don't want to get hurt," she sighed.

"How many guys have told you that you're extraordinary Kate?"

"Only Castle," Kate mumbled defeated.

"Go talk with the man, he seems to convince you more when he is around, stop looking for ways out of it, and just enjoy it. I think you'll find it a lot easier than you think."

They sat finishing off their food. Kate decided Lanie was right, she'd have to deal with it sooner or later and it could very well turn out to be a good thing. Saying their goodbyes and Lanie giving her a stern look and daring her to go to Castle, Kate began the journey to his apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

She knocked on his door, nervous, heart beating fast. What would she say to him? She thought she knew what she would say, she knew that she wanted to get to know Castle better and give this, 'thing' a shot. She was embarrassed to admit that there was an attraction between them, after all the times she had dodged his flirting and kept up her attitude about his annoyingness.

Somehow she knew she still had to talk to him and that she couldn't chicken out now. She took a deep breath just as the door opened.

"Kate?" It was Alexis.

"Alexis, hi, is your Dad home?"

"He just popped out to get us some more ice cream but he will be back in a minute, come in, you can wait for him in his study," she dragged Kate into the apartment.

Kate took off her coat and rested it on the sofa, and walked towards his study, it was just as she remembered it from the last time she'd been here. He had his laptop set up at the desk, and there was a story planned out on a digital board. It was a lot like the murder board really. She smiled. He had his whole book planned out the same way she solved murders. Everything about the room screamed Castle.

She decided to take a seat, in his chair at his desk. She noticed the scribbles on his blotter, most of them were just that, scribbles. However, upon further examination she noticed her name written amongst the scribbles along with some little hearts and stars, it was cute. She glanced around the room, she couldn't hear Castle in the apartment yet, so she grabbed a pen quickly wrote _'Rick' _and drew a heart around it. She giggled, how juvenile it was but still it was cute, and he must think about her a fair bit to be board enough to scribble things like that down.

"Kate," it was Castle she hadn't heard him enter the apartment during her musing.

"Hi," she smiled.

"It's funny, I was hoping you'd be at my desk all day, only in my version I was in the chair," he smirked.

She just kept a wry smile in place and stared at him, until she stood up, and then sat on the desk, leaving the chair unoccupied. She looked over her shoulder at him and his eyebrows shot up. Turning around she smiled to herself, this could get interesting.

Castle sauntered over to the chair, turned to face her, never losing eye contact, and put his hands on her hips while lowering himself into the chair.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked.

"I missed you at work today Castle," she said honestly.

Castle look astonished that she would admit it, and he saw that she was obviously enjoying throwing him off balance. He knew this dance, he would play.

"I missed you too," he replied.

Kate was even more taken aback, she was sure he would jump right in with a joke, make fun of her, but he didn't. Serious Rick was back, or was he?

"Are we trying to out-shock each other right now?" she snorted.

"I don't know Kate, are we? I mean if I wanted to shock you I wouldn't tell you I missed you because you know it's true. On the other hand, shocking you does sound like a lot of fun," with that he pulled her forward of the desk and into his lap.

Kate squeaked in surprise, sounding far too girly for her liking. Her eyes were wide, her mouth opened slightly in shock. Castle was just smiling and holding on to her tightly.

"Castle!" she grunted, smiling anyway.

"It's _Rick _when we are at home," he whispered in her ear making her shiver.

He'd said _Home_ like it was theirs. She drew back and looked at him before rubbing noses again just holding each other.

"Rick..." she breathed his name and slowly made her way to his lips. The kiss was slow but it was passionate.

"Dad?"

It was Alexis out in the other room.

"The ice cream is going to melt if you don't come out and eat it soon," she demanded.

By this time Kate had pulled away remembering where she was and how she was positioned in Rick's lap. She blushed, getting out of his lap slowly and holding out her hand. Rick got up and took her hand, kissing the back of it softly.

"Want some ice cream," he smiled.

"Sure," she accepted.

He kissed her on the cheek and went out of the study into the kitchen to prepare some for her. She followed him out hoping she didn't look too flustered.

Alexis was sitting on the couch watching Kate as she exited the study.

"Hi again," she smiled at Kate.

"Hi Alexis," Kate wasn't entirely sure what to say to the girl.

"I hope you and Dad sorted everything out. I was worried when I realised he'd been home most of the day," she whispered to Kate who was now next to her on the couch.

"Oh, we weren't fighting Alexis. There just wasn't any new murders to work on today so your Dad thought it would be better to come home and work on his book," she replied matter of fact.

"Oh, well that's good then, I was worried you may have been fighting, Dad is always depressed the most when you aren't happy with him," Alexis told her.

Kate blushed, poor Castle, how many times had they fallen out because of something that had happened.

"He really does like you, you know. You have to understand that it really is unusual for him to come home even if there isn't a murder; he likes to just watch you work sometimes. I really did think that something bad must have happened," she sighed.

"You don't have to worry Alexis, I try not to be too hard on your Dad, I kind of like having him around. Don't tell him though," she winked at Alexis, she didn't really care if she told Castle.

"That's nice detective, I'm sure Dad would be happy to know that," Alexis giggled.

"You can call me Kate, Alexis. Detective is just for work," Kate announced.

Just then castle jumped onto the couch next to Kate, almost on top of her in fact, from behind. Startled Kate turned towards him, and he handed her a bowl of ice cream smiling stupidly.

"What are my girls talking about," he questioned.

Alexis's eyebrows shot up "My girls?" she asked.

Kate blushed; Castle just shrugged at his daughter, pulled Kate closer and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Alexis asked.

Kate looked at Castle who was smiling happily and eating his ice cream, leaving Kate to field the question.

"Umm your Dad and I have gotten closer these past few days I guess," Kate shrugged embarrassed.

"So you guys are together then?" Alexis was curious.

Castle looked at Kate waiting for her answer, she hadn't actually said anything to Castle yet about where they stood relationship wise, but she had not negated it either.

Rolling her eyes at Castle, realising that she was under pressure to answer the question honestly she looked him and simply replied, "Yes."


	4. Chapter 4

It had been three days since Kate had given up the pretences and given in to Castle, accepting that the 'thing' they had going on between them was a relationship. They were taking things slow after the other night at his place. Kate had been annoyed that she had to come up with an answer for Alexis regarding the nature of their relationship, but guessed that really the ball was in her court and now, well, she was happy.

Things hadn't been weird at the precinct; Castle acted like nothing was going on and if possible seemed more focussed on the work. She hadn't expected him to behave so well. It was obvious he was trying hard to behave himself, not scare her off. She thought it was cute. It didn't stop her worrying though, deep down he was still the twelve year old on a sugar rush and getting him to follow instructions was still something she feared he would slip up on.

As usual paperwork was stacking up and so sighing she resigned herself to a day of desk duty. She was just starting to pick up the pace and getting through it all when Castle made his appearance. She didn't so much see him as she did hear him, it sounded like the boys were have a real good discussion in there. Ever curious, Kate got up with her coffee mug and walked over to the break room to fill it up again, subterfuge, the perfect cover.

As she got closer Ryan made a face at Castle and they all went quiet. Now she was really worried, what was going on?

"Don't stop on my account boys, just getting a top up," she smiled awkwardly looking at Castle.

They all looked back awkwardly saying nothing.

He looked guilty, and this worried her even more. She decided it wasn't worth worrying about if Castle had gone and done something stupid she would find out soon enough; the boys would tell her if he was discussing his latest conquest. Only they didn't know about the 'relationship'. God why did she ever agree to it in the first place? Sure Castle was charming and he cared for her, but did she trust him?

It had been three days, and really if there was any confusion about where they stood it would be her fault anyway. She refused to pick it apart; 'we are exactly what we are' was the only reply she would give him. Whether she was being flippant or genuinely didn't know the answer to the question she wasn't sure, and what would Castle have thought? Did he think she hadn't been serious? They really needed to talk.

Lost in her musings she didn't hear Castle plop down in his seat next to her.

"Hey. You okay Kate?" he asked quietly.

"Oh! Yeah I'm fine," she started looking through the paperwork again.

"Come on Kate, I saw that look, I hate when you get that disappointed look on your face, it makes me feel guilty," he probed.

"Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Guilty," she swallowed.

Castle laughed.

"You think something has happened?"

"Well you seemed quite chummy in there with the boys and you all went quiet when I came in. Should I be worried," she said it lightly but the look on her face told him otherwise.

"You Kate, have nothing to worry about, ever. The boys and I were just planning a poker game, and when they asked about inviting you I wasn't sure how I should play it, and so I was spinning a story," he smiled looking down.

"What did you tell them?" she was curious now.

"Well when I got all caught up they started picking at me and I sort of made them think that you and I aren't really speaking at the moment, as in 'I've given up the chase," he waited for her to get angry.

To his surprise Kate just snorted and covered her mouth. He couldn't figure out what was so funny.

"You realise now we are going to have to live up to that, not to mention you'll be deprived of my presence at your poker party."

"I know! I didn't want that, I just, you won't talk about where this is going, and you haven't told me if this is a secret, I feel like it's a test, and I like that we can keep things private, but I don't like acting like I don't care Kate."

"Oh Castle, why do you have to be all cute, when I'm trying to keep things serious here at work? If it makes you feel better this 'relationship,' is just getting started, and although it isn't all that serious yet, I, I want it to be. I expect that we're together in the sense that I only see you and you only see me. I trust that if you don't care for me enough for it to be that way, then this relationship has to stop before I get too involved," she said all this quickly, emotion crossing her features.

Castle caught the seriousness behind her words, and he knew he wanted the same thing. How she could think that it wasn't yet _serious _was a bit of a worry but he knew she wouldn't want to appear too emotionally invested if he were in fact about to break her heart. She wanted reassurance that she wasn't just another notch on his bed post.

"I want it to be serious too, I am serious. I'm already 'involved,' it would break my heart if you decided to end this, especially before it has really taken off. I only want to see you, nobody else, I told you I wanted real, and you're as real as they come. I do care about you, a lot and I trust you Kate, I want you to trust me too. I'd never leave you Kate."

His speech through her totally off balance, she hadn't expected him to reply so seriously to what she had said. She felt tears sting her eyes but didn't let them fall; she sniffled and looked at Castle who was just sitting there with a ridiculously earnest face, waiting for her to say something.

Before she could say anything further Esposito interrupted the moment.

"Yo! Castle, I see you've made up with Beckett, is she coming to the Poker game now?" he asked not realising the moment he had just walked into.

"Yeah I think she might just turn up," Castle said still looking at Kate, smiling anxiously at her.

"Hey guys we got a call out to a shop front, someone says there is blood in the front of the store, think we should check it out?" Ryan walked over to them all.

"Let's get out of here," Beckett stood to follow Ryan and Esposito out but stopt quickly putting her hand on castle's chest, as he stood beside her. She checked around the bullpen to see if anyone was watching and upon finding that nobody was really looking there direction she kissed him quickly.

"I think we're on the same page _Rick,_" she whispers as she pulls back and turns to walk towards the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

The drive to the shop front was quiet, but not awkward. For once Kate was feeling quite pleased with herself, happy, in fact, she felt downright giddy. She and Castle had set the scene with where their relationship was heading and she was confident now that things were good between them. She still had the nagging thoughts in the back of her head that perhaps the relationship was a bad idea, but she wouldn't deny herself the happiness that she obviously felt when she was with him.

Seeing Esposito and Ryan parking and getting out of the car, she parked behind them and she and Castle got out of the car and met them on the side of the street.

"Is this the place?" Castle.

"Yeah this is where Esposito said," Kate interjected.

Castle walked up to the window of the shop, sure enough upon looking inside there was what looked like blood pooled on the floor.

"Hey guys, I think there is definitely something strange going on he–,"

BOOM!

The explosion rang out from somewhere deep inside the store sending shards of glass everywhere.

Ryan, Esposito and Kate were mainly shielded from falling beside the police cruisers.

"CASTLE!" Kate screamed out to him.

The three of them crawled away from the burning shop front and rounded the other side of the car. In a heap on the ground close to the middle of the road was Castle.

At first Kate thought he was dead, and millions of thoughts rushed through her head about what she would tell Martha and Alexis. God! How could this happen, right after they'd figured things out!

She moved over to him as quickly as she could, hearing sirens in the distance.

"Rick, Rick? Can you hear me?" she checked for a pulse, it was there, but he was unconscious.

"Is he okay? Esposito looked concerned.

"He has a few cuts from the glass and his ears are probably ringing, I can't see any blood pooling anywhere, he's unconscious, there is no way of telling what damage has been done," she was emotional, she couldn't help it, she couldn't even think of what to do.

"Ambulances and the fire fighters are on their way Boss," Ryan stood next to Esposito. Thank God, she had the boys with her or she would be screwed.

Kate sat on the ground next to Castle no longer listening to them, running her fingers through his hair gently.

The ambulance arrived not long after, stabilising Castle and transferring him to the ambulance. Kate wanted to go with them, but was refused.

Esposito and Ryan dragged her back to the cruisers which had lost the windows on the side closest to the blown up building but were still useable.

"He'll be okay Kate," Esposito put his hand on her shoulder.

She just nodded and hopped into the cruiser.

At the hospital it wasn't long until a doctor came out to speak to them.

"Mr Castle has sustained a concussion and some bruising, as well as cuts and abrasions from the glass and the fall. He will be fine as long as he rests. Oh, and he probably won't be able to hear very well for awhile," the doctor announced.

A sigh of relief fell from Kate and she was quick to ask when she could see him.

Walking into his hospital room she saw he was resting and so sat down in the chair beside his bed holding his hand. Ryan and Esposito came in as well, and Castle started to open his eyes.

"Hey guys, Kate." He whispered not sure about his volume, the nurse mentioned he'd have trouble.

"You had us all worried there for a while Castle," Esposito spoke.

"Yeah Castle, I thought you were a goner," Ryan added.

Esposito frowned at Ryan, and he shrugged. Castle noticed the exchange but his head hurt too much to do any probing. Kate still hadn't spoken a word, she was deadly pale. The boys said there farewells and told Beckett that they would call and update her with any news as to what the hell had happened.

"Kate, speak to me, are you alright, did you get hurt?" he was concerned for her. He'd almost been killed and he was worried about her.

She looked at his face touched his cheek then stood up and kissed his forehead. She continued staring at him and touching him whilst biting her lip. Castle was being patient and liking the attention. He could see she was troubled, but he was okay, she didn't need to worry.

"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered as a lone tear trailed down her cheek.

Castle was surprised at how deadly serious she was, and just how upset, he'd not realised how close he had come to being killed nor how lucky.

"Kate, I .. What happened out there?" he asked, clearly puzzled.

"I, I don't know. One minute we were all standing there, and then you were looking through the window into the shop and Esposito and Ryan were talking about the poker game, you went to tell us something and then there was this loud bang and we were thrown to the ground," she recalled.

He nodded slowly having understood the most of what she'd said "You guys didn't get hurt too?" Castle asked.

"We weren't as close and to blast so it through us back to the ground and the cruisers shielded us better. You on the other hand, went flying, I found you in the middle of the road. I thought you were dead!" he tried hard to listen to her account.

"Do you think someone did this on purpose?" he squinted trying to work out if he was speaking properly.

"I'm not sure," she said dejectedly.

"I mean, we get a call about a possible murder, we go there, hesitate for a few extra minutes and the shop blows. We could have been in there!" his eyes bulged and his volume had gone up.

"I know, I know! As soon as it happened I was panicking, I was terrified, and my heart was breaking and I didn't know what I would tell Martha and Alexis, then I felt a pulse and I don't think I've ever been so glad in my entire life to feel someone's heart beat," she got out in one breath.

"It's alright you know. I'm still here, nothing is going to happen," he tried calming her down.

"How do you know that? You can't promise me things like that Castle you can't. Nor can I for that matter. This job is dangerous I should be expecting things could go wrong, we all waltz nearly in there without any kind of precautions. I wasn't thinking clearly, it's my fault," she was emotional...again.

"It was not your fault Kate, how could you possibly foresee something like this, it was totally left field," he pulled on her hand and made her come closer to him so he could reach her face.

Wiping away the tears on her cheeks he looked into her eyes, "you really thought I was dead?"

"Yes!" she hiccupped.

He pulled her onto the hospital bed to lie with him and held her close, "nothing will ruin this for us Kate, I won't let it, we'll be more careful from now on."

"Today was my worst nightmare Rick, I'm not sure I want you out there where you can get hurt," she snuggled into his arms.

"Kate I'm fine, it's just a concussion and a few scratches here and there, it could have been worse but it wasn't, I'll be more careful too, I enjoy holding you, and I can't do that if I do something stupid and get hurt," he smiled.

Kate being so emotionally exhausted from the ordeal had already fallen asleep her fists still clenched tightly into castle's top and her head still resting in his neck.

Kate being more worried for Castle's safety then her own it seems didn't see the next event coming. Not by a long shot.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a week since the explosion. There were no leads; everything at the store where the explosion occurred was destroyed. It felt so out of place not having anything to go on, nowhere to begin. So, as such the Captain made it clear that it would have to rest for now. If the person responsible had wanted someone dead then it was likely to happen again.

Kate wasn't so sure. Seemed to her that it was more likely that someone was trying to cover their tracks, but she had to let this one go.

There was no murder, no body that they were aware of. It was deemed suspicious though and was being investigated.

Castle had been banned from following Kate around while he was recovering from almost being blown to bits. He had argued but a quick threat regarding affection coming from her was enough to get him to agree to stay home and write. As long as she visited and had dinner with the family every evening after work, he was happy.

Kate was happy to give in to his demands considering she felt lucky to be even having the chance to spend time with him. I mean, that's how things can happen, one minute you're together and happy and everything is so right, and the next something tragic could take a loved one away.

She knew this all too well, and even though she shouldn't have had to be reminded, it was just as well that she was, it made her appreciate her relationship with Rick just that little bit more. Especially considering how devastated she would be if something were to happen to him. Though she was trying to not think about those things it was no use dwelling on something that would only make her upset.

It was still only early in the precinct, and as usual Kate was sitting at her desk reading emails, and sipping her coffee. Before she could get to her second email, her phone rang.

"Beckett," she answered

"Hey Kate," it was Castle. She rolled her eyes; she'd known he couldn't stay focussed for one day without speaking to her.

"Rick. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure is, I miss you though," Kate smiled, even though he could be annoying she still loved him.

Wait. _Love._

That just came out of nowhere. She figured she would have to be careful not to let that slip.

Realising she hadn't actually replied and the silence was becoming louder she quickly replied. "I miss you too Rick."

She couldn't see it, but he was smiling happily on the other end.

"Was there actually a reason for this call other than you missing me Rick? Not that I mind."

"Actually there was, and get that shocked expression off your face."

Kate quickly looked around to make sure he hadn't been calling her and watching her because that would be creepy.

"Well...," she waited.

"Alright well, I was wondering if I could have that poker party I was talking about the other week, you know, with you the guys, and you off course and I wanted to know when you'd all be free."

"Oh. Well I think Karpowski's team are on call this weekend so maybe Saturday night?"

"That would be awesome detective," she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Well I can tell the boys for you if you'd like?"

"Is it alright if I text them? You know, give me something to do."

"Yeah sure Castle, though really, with all this spare time on your hands you'd think you'd be wanting to get some writing done," she said with a tone in her voice that Castle wasn't quite sure how to handle.

"What's the matter Rick, writers block?"

"No! I mean I haven't been on top of my game recently, and it's been stressful not having been able to hear for four days. Plus I haven't really had any inspiration lately," he replied shyly.

"Well don't think any _inspiration _you might get any time soon is going to be part of your book," she said sternly.

"Oooo Kate, get your mind out of the gutter. I was merely referring to not being able to be in on any action in regards to a case this week. What were you thinking?" he asked suggestively.

"Nothing, I'm just warning you that while you're on bed rest, that's all you'll be doing in a bed," she said with a smile knowing he was so easy to tease.

"You're an evil woman Beckett. Besides, I thought we decided not to rush things. Not caving are we detective?"

"Of course not, if anything I could hold out a lot longer than you could. Besides, I don't even know why we're having this conversation I'm at work!" she said as if she'd only just realised.

Laughter at his end of the line made her frown. "I'll see you tonight Kate," he said happily.

"Yeah, I'll see you tonight."

"Love you," he hangs up.

Kate gasped. He'd said it. Up until this point neither of them had spoken the words out loud. I mean she was thinking them quite often and had almost accidently said something of the same nature at the beginning of their call but, wow.

It was scary but at the same time, her heart was fluttering and she felt very excited.

She must have been sitting at her desk staring with a dumb look on her face for quite some time because when she finally got her focus back Ryan and Esposito had their phones out and were talking to one another excitedly and giving windmill high fives. Meaning Castle had confirmed with them about game night.

It was good to see everyone was in a good mood, and it was all because of Castle.

Man if she didn't stop thinking about that man she was going to go crazy. It was time to have some girl chat with Lanie before another case came in.

Down in the morgue Lanie was hovering over some body murmuring to herself she sounded annoyed, a sharp contrast to the happy times upstairs.

"Lanie," Kate spoke.

"Girl! You scared me! You have got to stop sneaking in here like that."

"Come on in these heels? You should have heard me coming."

"You're right," she sighed.

"Wow, are you okay, you sound really out of it."

"Yeah well I think I just got passed up on for a better offer," she huffed.

"What do you mean?"

"Alright, well, Javi and I were going to spend some time together this weekend, but he texted me about five minutes ago saying that some plans he made last week were going ahead and that he'd have to give it a miss," she looked downright miserable.

"Oh, Lanie, I'm sorry but this is my fault. I told Rick he could have the poker party he was planning on having sometime last week, I didn't realise that it would mess up your plans," crap, poor Lanie I need to touch base with her more often.

"Don't worry about it, either way this only reflects badly on Javier. Besides, I want to hear about writer boy, what's been happening in lover's town," she winked.

Kate sighed and rolled her eyes, nothing was going to keep Lanie from questioning her.

"Things are fine. Castle is on rest for the rest of this week, as long as I promised to come over for dinner each night so he could see me. His hearing is back to normal. Things are good".

"uh uh, girl, you know what I mean, I want the hot gossip. You and lover boy don't get together after all this time and not have the most amazing sex of your life."

Kate blushed profusely.

"Ha! I'm right aren't I, oooo I bet that man showed you what's what," Lanie went off on a tangent embarrassing Kate to no end.

"Lanie!" she stopped her mortified.

"I have not slept with Richard Castle. We'd really only just decided to give things a go before the explosion we've not even been on a proper date," she said exasperatedly.

"Girl you two have been pussy footing around this for God knows how long, and you want a date? You've got almost 2 years of foreplay between you, what the hell are you waiting for!"

"Ergh. I don't know Lanie, there just hasn't been a moment, every time we've been alone or kissed we've been in a house with his daughter. I wasn't going to sleep with him the first time he makes a move either, so don't even suggest when he was at my place last week."

"I see. Then you should invite him over, spend some quality getting to know you time, alone," Lanie pointed out.

"Look not that it's any of your business, but there is no rush, we are not going to rush things, we'll just see where things take us. I like spending time with Rick and I don't want our relationship to be all about sex," Kate sighed she didn't want to talk about this now.

"Kate. Calm down, I was only asking. I mean, aren't you just itching to jump that mans bones?"

"I'm attracted to him, I just, I don't want to get hurt, and he has told me again and again and I believe him that he wants this to work. I think that over-thinking this too much will make me rush into something. I think a natural progression will work fine."

"Good. I'm glad things are going well. Just remember to tell me all about it when the eagle lands alright?"

"Ha! Sure Lanie. By the way, did you want to come to poker night? You can glare at Esposito and we can sit and drink wine on the couch once we get sick of the game."

"Sounds good, Saturday night?"

"Yeah Saturday night."

"Well considering I now have no other prior engagements I'll be there," she said with a wink.

"Alright well I better get back; I'll talk to you later."


	7. Chapter 7

It was Wednesday. Rick was still on his week off from shadowing her. She missed him, but was looking forward to the poker party he was putting together for some of his friends from the precinct.

Since the _incident _she had been at his place every night for dinner, and she enjoyed spending time with him and Alexis. Even though his daughter quite often went out with her friends or was up in her room studying, it was okay, spending time with Rick made her happy, even if it wasn't the full family at dinner every night.

Once Saturday rolled around Rick's ban from following her around would be lifted and he could come and socialise with them all again. She was surprised he'd agreed and stuck to the ground rules.

Speaking of which, they were still taking things slow, not that much could happen in the two days that Lanie had gotten stuck into her about not making a move. The man had been injured for Christ sake.

He was pretty much back to normal now, the few cuts he'd received in the explosion were healing nicely, and he could hear fine, and he was quite jovial, making jokes, and always with the innuendo. Yep, he was _fine. _Damn fine.

"Yo Beckett. We have a lead on Matthews. Patrol cars said they saw a guy matching our description running back into that building we search a couple days back," Esposito sounded out of breath.

"Really? That was lucky," yes, a break in the case, about time too, she was spending too much time just thinking lately.

"Yeah, tell me about it, Ryan can't believe it. They're watching the building for us until we can get there to make sure he doesn't leave," Esposito grabbed his jacket and started towards the elevators Beckett close behind.

They pulled up at the building and nodded at the cops. Looking up the building was just like any other apartment complex in the area. Six floors high, fire escape outside each window. Ryan and Esposito had their vests on and nodded at Beckett indicating that they were ready.

"Alright boys, I say we go straight up to his apartment, perhaps Ryan you should go through the back make sure he doesn't try a getaway down the stairs. Espo, you come with me and we'll see how this plays out," she sighed and headed into the building.

"Beckett, don't you think we should call for back up?" Esposito said with trepidation.

"I thought about it but, if he is back here he has pretty much given himself up, I don't expect any trouble, we can't prove his involvement yet anyway, at best we get a confession if not, we may have another lead. Let's just get this over with," she was certain this wouldn't be hard.

"Eric Matthews this is the NYPD open up," Esposito announced at the door.

They waited, but couldn't hear anyone coming towards the door from inside. They did however hear a bump.

"What was that?" Ryan.

"Shit Kevin! Don't sneak up on us like that," Beckett said whilst Esposito glared at his partner. Ryan just shrugged.

Esposito nodded at Kate and then he proceeded to kick the door in.

"Damn it," Kate swore, Matthews was escaping out the window, the _fire escape_. She should have had it covered.

"Ryan, head him off!" Esposito yelled while he followed Kate out the window after the suspect.

Matthews was fast, but Beckett was quick too, not to mention incredibly pissed off.

"Matthews, don't make this any harder for yourself, we just want to talk to you, don't make this the second time I have to chase you!"

"Never! I beat you once," Matthews yelled back.

Without thinking Esposito jumped down to the landing in front of Matthews. Matthews was surprised but was running so quickly he pushed into Esposito knocking him over and jumping down the next flight of stairs.

"Espo! You okay," Kate gasped.

"Yeah I'm fine, just get after him, he's quick!" Esposito panted, he was winded.

Kate wasn't far behind and decided that the only way she was going to stop this guy was heading him off on the stairs and tackling him. He was running, that only increased the likelihood that this guy was their murderer. Just thinking about it made her angry.

Without losing another second Kate launched herself over the railing and landed on Matthews rolling down the remaining lot of stairs with him. Unfortunately being considerably lighter than Matthews she wasn't in great shape when they reached the bottom, she held on to him whilst he struggled to get out of her hold, he'd practically crushed her but she was determined to not let him get away.

Luckily Ryan had reached them just in time to help incapacitate Matthews and Beckett rolled away in pain.

"You alright Beckett?" Ryan said whilst putting handcuffs on Matthews.

"Something is definitely broken," she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Where is Esposito?" Ryan asked, a concerned look on his face.

"He took a hit from Matthews here and fell on his ass a couple flights up, he's okay though," she answered.

"It's okay guys I'm alright" Esposito said having reached the bottom. He was holding his ribs.

"You alright bro?" Ryan asked quickly whilst holding Matthews in a lock against the building, he was in his cuffs.

"Yeah just bruises, I don't think anything is broken."

"Beckett, I'll take you to the hospital come on," Esposito said firmly.

"Umm yeah, that's probably necessary," she said, in low spirits.

"You want me to call Castle?" Ryan.

"No! Don't bother him, it's not like it's a life and death situation. I'll be fine," she said sternly.

Ryan frowned at her but nodded in agreement.

At the hospital Kate sat in an observation room waiting for the doctor to come back.

"Well Detective Beckett, it looks to be that you've got a hairline fracture on your left side about the fifth rib to be precise. Bruising is considerable on your left hip too, I suspect that is where you took the most impact from the fall, it will make you limp but I suppose with your ankle in the cast you'd be on crutches anyway," the doctor informed her.

Beckett was stricken, _a cast! I can't work if I have to be on crutches!_

"How long will I be in the cast for?" she asked tentatively.

"Four to six weeks for this break. I know I said it was only a small bone, but it is very important you stay off that foot and that you rest, any more damage and you could have permanent damage. I suggest that you take some time off work, at the very least some light desk work would be appropriate after a couple of weeks of rest, you need to really rest to get the bruising and the rib to heal quickly and without much pain. Understood?" the doctor was very serious.

"Yes. I understand."

"Do you have someone at home who can help you while you are injured?"

"I live alone." Kate answered honestly.

"Well I think it would be best if you could stay with someone for the first couple of weeks so you decrease the chance of further injury," the doctor explained.

"Look I'll be fine, I'm quite capable of looking after myself I can be careful," Kate answered with a frown.

There was a knock on the door.

"Sorry Beckett, Captain is on the phone, wants to know what's going on," Esposito smiled.

She snatched the phone off Esposito a cheeky smile on her face, but it was soon dissolved as the doctor snatched the phone from her and started talking to the Captain.

Beckett glared but the doctor just stuck his hand up and ignored her. She folded her arms and huffed. Then without warning the doctor chuckled and handed the phone back to Kate.

"Hello," she sighed into the phone.

"Beckett. I hear you've gone and gotten yourself into some trouble. Doc tells me you need two weeks off and some light desk duty. You know what that means?" he sounded all too happy.

"What does this mean?" she asked.

"It means, I am calling Castle and he is going to look after you for two weeks while you recover. The specifics you can work out between yourselves," he grinned on the other end triumphantly.

"What! Sir, I can look after myself, just because that nature of my relationship with Castle has recently changed does not mean he is my keeper!" she was frustrated now.

"I know that Beckett, calm down, Doctor's orders okay. He says you need help during your recovery, and I sure as hell don't think Castle would be pleased if it wasn't him."

"You're right, Roy. Sorry. I guess I just don't like the idea of being 'looked after'."

"That's alright Kate. You just rest up okay?"

"Yeah, I will," Kate sighed and hung up the phone.

This was certainly going to be interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: don't own show, or characters. Apply this too ALL chapters. **

Getting out of the squad car gingerly, with a little help from Esposito Kate was on her crutches and heading up to the loft. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of being out of work for at the least a couple of week. Two weeks couped up with Rick? Even she knew it was too early to be spending _that_ much time with him. With all the time they were likely to spend in each other's company she wondered if Rick was going to want to push forward with their relationship.

For the most part Kate was happy with how they were, and didn't particularly want to change anything. Sure, she knew she loved him, but being looked after by him seemed too much, she was fiercely independent and capable. She didn't want to lose that. She felt her eyes well up at the thought of how demeaning this experience would end up being.

Esposito had already knocked on the door, he looked down at her, but she was resting on her crutches and looking at the floor.

"Detectives!...Kate? What the hell happened to you?" Castle was shocked at what he saw.

"We were chasing a perp out a window," Esposito announced.

"A window? You jumped out a window?" Castle gasped.

"No! There were stairs! I'm fine okay, I just fell down some stairs," Kate said gruffly.

"You should probably mention that you fell down the stairs whilst tackling a guy twice your size and three times your weight," Esposito added.

Kate just rolled her eyes refusing to look at either of them.

"Come on, come sit in here on the couch and we'll sort you out," Castle said in a soft voice, looking over Kate wondering what her injuries were.

Kate used her crutches and moved over to the couch and saw Castle walk Esposito out into the corridor before coming back inside moments later and shutting the front door.

He walked slowly over to the couch and sat down next to her, not too close, he could tell she was upset.

"Esposito told me what the doctor said. You know you can stay here as long as you like and I'll help you out with whatever," Castle was determined not to make it sound like she'd need help. He knew her.

"It's only a small bone in my foot, as long as I don't put any pressure on it I should be fine," Kate sighed, she should have known he'd be so understanding, not pushy like he would normally be, he knew her too well.

"What about the ribs?" Castle asked quietly.

"I suppose Esposito made sure you knew about everything then," Kate looked grumpy, but tired.

"Ah yeah, he did, and why shouldn't I know?" Castle sounded irritated now.

"Look Castle, I don't want you to think you have to be taking care of me, I am fine, I'm barely injured and the captain is already telling me I'm banned from the precinct for at least two weeks! I'm pissed off, I don't know whether to laugh or cry, my independence just goes straight out the window, and on top of that, Captain sends me straight to you like you're my keeper!" Kate ended her rant panting and looking everywhere but at Castle.

"I thought we'd gotten over this whole 'Castle' thing?" He jokes.

She just gave him and icy stare.

"Alright, look I know you don't want help, especially from me, but come on, we've made such good progress the last few days, and we're on the same page and everything. I see your ribs are sore and you've broken a bone, that doesn't mean I'll have to do everything for you. You can choose when you want a hand; I'm not going to push you. However, you do have to be careful; you don't want to risk further injury therefore making you be kept away from the precinct longer. The more you rest the quicker you'll heal," he smiled.

"Why do you choose now to be all reasonable and calm," Kate furrowed her brow not understanding how he could just keep resolving every small thing she was annoyed about.

"Because I know you Kate, and I care, it won't be so bad staying here with me either," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"I'm not sleeping with you Castle. I feel depressed enough as it is without having to add to the fact that I have trouble breathing, and I'm bruised all over," she sounded like she wanted to cry.

"Hey, hey come on now," Castle moved closer to Kate and gently put his arm around her to bring her against his chest gently.

"I don't expect anything of the sort, you know we are taking this slow and I just like having you around is all," he looked kind of cute when he was bashful.

"I'm sorry Rick. I, I just can't stand the idea of being couped up like this, and how difficult everything will be with the stupid cast on my foot, I can't put any weight on it without damaging something further, it's all so complicated and I can just see I'm going to be very uncomfortable with it all" she let a tear slip.

Rick new she wasn't just talking about being uncomfortable with the cast.

"I know that we've not been very ah, intimate at this point, but you should know that I am a gentleman and I wouldn't do anything to make you uncomfortable, I see what you're thinking but really, trust me we'll find a way to do things like showers without it being awkward. Besides we are 'together' it's not like it would be totally wrong for me to see you," he lowered his voice.

"That's not the point," Kate whispered feeling weary.

"I know. Just we could make things even if you are worried. You know we could just shower at the same time," he said lightly.

Kate rolled her eyes but said "ok" and the resulting gasp she heard out of Rick was all she needed to lift her spirits and giggle only to stop because of the pain. She bit her lip and tried to withhold the moan of pain from her ribs. She could only imagine how much pain she'd be in if she'd broken it instead of the hairline fracture.

"Do you have any pain medication from the doctor?" Castle asked her concerned about her pain.

"Yeah by the door on the counter," she whispered.

Castle gently pried himself away from her and walked over to the door where he retrieved the tablets and then brought over some water for her to swallow them with.

"Here, you better take these," Castle told her.

"I already had something at the hospital, don't worry it will settle down in a moment, I don't want to have to take too many of those anyway, they make me-,"

She yawned loudly.

"Sleepy." She sighes; something told her this was going to be a very uneventful week.

Then she suddenly remembered. The poker night, that would be on the weekend, she'd probably sleep through the whole thing and Rick would be disappointed because she wasn't there to banter with. It was Wednesday so she figured she had time to ween herself of the pain meds and that way she'd be able to at least sit on the couch with Lanie like she promised whilst the boys played poker.

He hadn't even mentioned his poker game; he'd only been concerned about making her comfortable.

"So umm I can go make up the spare room for you so you can sleep now, but you don't look like you'd make it up stairs and by the time I've made the bed you'll be asleep, I'd let you sleep out here but with Mother coming and going and Alexis home in an hour I'm sure you'd rest better in my room," he tried to sound as logical as possible.

Kate sighed. "Okay Rick," she was far too tired to argue with him right now.

Seeing how she was pretty much wiped out, Rick bent down and picked her up off the couch carrying her bridle style to his bedroom which was down the hall next to his study. She barely made a sound, and he hoped he wasn't hurting her.

He placed her down on his bed and covered her with the blankets, she was still holding on to his shirt when he realised that she couldn't sleep in her work clothes.

"Kate? Kate wake up a second," he whispered shaking her slightly.

"Wah?" Kate was pretty groggy.

He smiled at her and then focussed on the problem at hand.

"You can't sleep in your work clothes Kate, that can't be comfortable," he told her.

"Oh, yeah you're right I guess I better change. I don't have anything here with me Rick, Esposito just brought me straight here, I didn't even think-

"Hey, don't worry about it, when you're feeling up to it we can go and pack a bag or I could get Lanie to go and pack some stuff for you," she said gently.

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," she agrees easily; her eyes getting droopy again.

Before she could fall asleep again, Rick quickly took off his dress shirt and held it out for her.

"Here you can sleep in this," he looked at her with a serious expression.

Kate just lay their looking at him, before she giggled.

"What?" he asked, a little unsure of himself.

"I love, ha. I love hmm, I love how you just stand there whip off your shirt ha, all muscles, I wouldn't have known had you not done that."

"Kate, I think those meds are hitting you harder than you think," he chuckled.

"You're a nice man, very nice Richard Castle," she was off with the fairies.

"Why don't you just put on the shirt Kate, we already discussed this remember? You can't sleep in your work clothes, you won't be comfortable," he tried to sound reasonable but the look on Kate's face made him want to laugh.

"I can't" she groaned.

"Why not?" Rick asked.

"I can't lift my arms up to put it on," and with that she burst into tears.

"Hey come on Kate, don't cry, I'll help you, look it will be fine," he started undoing the buttons so she wouldn't have to lift her arms. It had been his intention all along but Kate wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

He helped her sit up and she scooted to the edge of the bed, resting her head on his shoulder where he was knelt. He unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off her shoulders, her head lolled on his shoulder so he knew she wasn't paying much attention.

He unclasped her bra, _lace, nice, _and then put his dress shirt on her buttoning it up taking care not to look, only when he noticed the bruising below her breast he could tell she was going to go through some pain with those, and he reminded himself to be even more careful when touching her.

The next part was slightly tricky and he had to keep his mind on the job in order to not let his thoughts wander.

He gently moved Kate to rest on her back with her legs still over near the edge of the bed and removed her pants.

_They match_ was the only thing Castle thought apart from admiring her legs, which he wouldn't lie, he had admired from afar for too long.

He gently helped her back under the covers, she was pretty much unconscious and so he kissed her forehead and sat in the chair by the bed to watch her a moment.

She was covered modestly by the quilt and only her shoulders could be seen above it. He knew she would probably be mad when she woke up to find he had helped her change.

He knew he wouldn't deserve it though, he'd been a gentleman, and it wasn't as though he'd really checked her out. He only stopped because he could see the purple bruises starting to appear where she'd hurt her ribs. Lucky her pants fit over the cast too, he was sure she'd be even more pissed if he'd cut them off. He decided he would lie down on the other side of the bed which was unoccupied by Kate.

He watched her breathing and before long his thoughts started to wander. First he thought about what she could wear that would fit over the cast. _Nothing._ She probably would have an argument to that.

Perhaps he could convince her to continue to wear his shirts? His thoughts began to fade as he fell asleep next to her.


	9. Chapter 9

Alexis opened the door to the loft and shut the door quietly.

"Dad! Are you home?" upon receiving no immediate answer she trudged up the stairs to put her school bag down.

It was Wednesday, that meant that it was her Dads turn to cook and he was usually home by now. She checked his study; the laptop was open and sitting on his desk. He didn't usually leave the laptop open and unattended. It occurred to her then that he must still be in the loft, probably taking a nap she thought.

Alexis tapped gently on her father's bedroom door before opening it. She saw her father asleep on top of the covers and Kate tucked safely under them next to him. It was only late afternoon, so her first impression was that her father and Kate cut work and...well she didn't want to even think about it.

"Alexis?" Castle had woken up and seen her.

"Dad! I'm sorry I was just looking for you, you didn't answer when I knocked and your laptop was open," Alexis tried to explain.

Castle looked at her strangely, the poor girl was flustered. Then he remembered Kate was next to him in the bed.

"Oh!" Castle chuckled.

"What's so funny" the young Castle frowned and crossed her arms, she didn't like her father making fun of her embarrassment.

"No need to be embarrassed Alexis, this is without doubt, not what it looks like" he looked at her seriously before getting out of the bed and walking his daughter out of the room.

"Well then?" curiosity had gotten the better of her.

"Kate was hurt today" was all he said.

"Hurt! What do you mean? Is she okay?" Alexis was alarmed.

"She's going to be fine, she hurt a couple of ribs and broke a small bone in her foot" he answered calmly.

"How'd it happen? Why is she sleeping now if it's not too bad?" Alexis was suspicious of her father's answers and wanted to be sure that Kate was definitely okay and that he wasn't hiding anything from her.

"She was chasing a suspect and she tackled him and fell down some stairs, he was a pretty heavy guy. She is going to be sore for a while. Has a cracked rib a lot of bruising and the foot break is going to be annoying. Montgomery has given her two weeks leave before she can return for light desk work and she'll be staying with us during her recovery. As to why she is sleeping, she has taken some pain medication that is a bit of a sedative, which is probably a good thing" he sighed.

Alexis nodded her head satisfied that she'd learnt the truth. She hugged him.

"Look after her dad" she smiled.

"Of course" he winked at her.

"I'm going to go work on my science project, call me when you've finished dinner, it's your turn remember. Oh and Dad?" she stopped.

"Yeah pumpkin?" he turned to look back at her.

"Put a shirt on" with that she waltzed up the stairs to her science project.

Castle sighed again before going back to his room and finding a shirt before starting dinner.

Castle had gone with something simple _pasta el Castle _it was simple and perhaps just what Kate would feel like eating, she was yet to awaken. He checked the pasta one last time before turning the boiling water off and draining it. He left it in the pot then to go check on Kate.

He entered his bedroom which was dark and walked over to turn on the lamp. Kate was stirring when he turned it on, and he watched as she woke up. At first she registered surprise but it must have all come flooding back to her, well that was what he thought.

"Castle?" she looked around the bed noticing his side had been slept on.

"Kate," he answered.

"Did we sleep together because I'm kind of getting a blank as to how I ended up here..What time is it?" she seemed panicked.

"No no no! Listen it isn't what you think, remember Esposito brought you here, you had a fall at work you hurt your ribs and your foot," he moved the covers aside to show her the cast on her foot.

She leaned up to take a look before clutching her side in pain.

"Ouch! Alright I believe you. I remember being at the hospital earlier now that I think about it. Must have been some good meds they gave me" she smiled.

Slowly she sat up and Castle fixed the pillows behind her back, she looked down inspecting the cast then noticed her bare legs. She took in what she was wearing.

"Umm, Castle?"

"Yes Kate," he asked.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked quietly.

"Over there on the chair," he answered.

"How'd did I get into your shirt?" she was starting to sound annoyed, perhaps Alexis had been correct.

"Well I was taking you to come in here to rest and you were really sleepy from the medicine and that's when I realised you were still in your work clothes. You were worried and said that you hadn't brought over any clothes, and I told you it would all be okay and that you could wear something of mine. You were okay with that," he said like he was in an interrogation.

"Alright but that doesn't explain why I am only wearing shorts and ..." she checked further.

"Panties," she looked up at him for an explanation.

"Alright well I offered to let you dress yourself but you were totally and I mean totally out of it. You were even giggling," he said brightly.

"I was not," she said indignantly.

"How would you know, you can't even remember," Castle said defiantly.

"hmpff," Kate rolled her eyes.

"Anyway as I was explaining. You were drowsy and upset. You wanted me to help you because you couldn't lift your arms," he explained further.

"Rick. I hate to burst your bubble but your shirt has buttons and so does mine," she folder her arms and stared at him.

"Yes I know that. However you didn't seem to notice before, you cried!" she said exasperatedly.

"Oh. Well may be I really was out of it," she blushed, realising he was telling her the truth.

"Don't worry about it, end of the story is, I was a perfect gentleman I put my shirt on you and took your pants off, I would have put some sweats on for you but, it was hard enough getting you out of the pants and you were pretty much unconscious," he shrugged.

"Okay Rick. Thanks, I guess," she muttered.

"Kate, please don't be upset, two weeks will pass like a breeze and I'll keep you company," he whispered.

"You don't want to follow Ryan and Esposito around for awhile?" she asked wondering.

"Why would I want to follow them when my inspiration is right here? Besides they'll be over here on the weekend. That is if it's still okay?" he looked worried that he had said something stupid.

"Don't worry Rick, I'm sure I'll be right enough to sit on the couch with Lanie for some girl talk while you and the boys play poker," she smiled at him.

"You're not going to play? He looked sad.

"Not this time, I have some catching up to do with Lanie and you'll be sick of me by then anyway," she said nonchalantly.

"I could never get sick of you," he whispered whilst looking her straight in the eye.

She looked away; the intensity of his stare was almost alarming. He put his hand on her chin and made her look at him again.

"Never," he said again, and then he moved in and kissed her softly.

Kate smiled as he moved away from the kiss "I'm still sitting on the couch with Lanie, the more I rest the quicker I'll be able to get back to work".

"Party pooper," he murmured.

After helping Kate to the table Castle and Alexis dished up the pasta and came and sat with her.

"Dad told me what happened to you today, I'm so glad you weren't more seriously injured a whole flight of stairs, you could have broken your neck," Alexis was truly concerned.

"Thank you Alexis, I'm glad I got away mostly unscathed myself," she smiled tiredly.

"Are you in much pain?" Alexis asked tentatively.

"Only when I breathe, the foot is okay as long as I don't stand on it," she said not looking at the girl, she felt awkward wearing only Castle's shirt.

"Don't worry Kate, you'll heal quickly with some rest and with my Dad to keep you company you are bound to be preoccupied. Plus Dad says you haven't had time off work in a while and that you rarely take your vacation time," she said matter of fact.

"It's true that I haven't had much time off work, but when I do take time I don't like to be injured. You're right though, I shouldn't wallow, I can't change what happened and I should be positive it could have been worse," she smiled at the girl, feeling more comfortable.

Castle smiled at the exchange. Kate seemed a little happier now that Alexis had voiced exactly what he had been feeling.

It was getting late. Kate was exhausted even though she had been sleeping most of the afternoon. She sat on the lounge watching Rick and Alexis wash up, apologising for not being able to help more.

Alexis excused herself to bed, mentioning that she had an important quiz first thing in the morning. Castle came and sat on the couch next to her with a glass of water. She sipped it and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You ready for more of that medication?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I'm a little sore, mostly from the bruises though I think," she whispered.

"Come on then," he helped her stand up and picked her up again.

"You know Rick, they gave me crutches to use, and you don't have to keep picking me up like this," she said tiredly.

"I know, but your ribs are sore and bruised and well you're pretty light and I like holding you," he smiled softly at her.

Kate would usually have something to say about that but tonight she truly was exhausted and was pretty sure she even enjoyed being held by Castle.

He took her into the bathroom so she could use the toilet and brush her teeth, she wouldn't allow him to help her in the bathroom so he waited outside and she hopped around herself.

When she came out Castle was relieve that she hadn't fallen over or anything. Perhaps he worried too much. He quickly took his turn and returned to the bed where Kate was already on her side resting. The tablets he'd left out were gone and her glass half fall. Satisfied that she was medicated he crawled up next to her and kissed her cheek.

"Night Kate," he whispered.

She looked over to him, and then moved closer to his side before making herself comfortable against him.

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before resting her head on his chest and place her hand on his stomach.

May be staying with Castle while she was recovering wasn't such a bad thing after all?


	10. Chapter 10

Kate woke up slowly taking in a deep breath. _Castle_. She could smell him all around her. She smiled. Just knowing he was close made her feel very calm.

She recalled the events of the day before and was glad that she hadn't stretched out like a cat, as she normally would. She was certain the bruises to her ribs would be bad, they felt bad. In fact some pain medication would probably help. Or a shower, that would be nice.

She untangled herself from Castle's grip and moved her feet to the floor, only then noticing the cast and remembering that she had a broken foot. _Damn!_ She couldn't even shower without help. Kate sighed loudly.

"Hmmm Kate?" Castle's muffled voice sounded.

"Hey Rick, it's okay, you can go back to sleep," she whispered whilst smoothing his hair.

He woke up more fully and stared at her. "It's okay, I was ready to get up anyway," he smiled. "What's up? Can I get you some more medication?"

"Oh, well ummm, I was thinking I'd like to have a shower, but I remembered that I can't really do that with the cast," she told him frustratingly.

"That's okay I have a tub," he announced.

Kate had forgotten about the tub, she had been imagining all kinds of ways Rick would _help_ her in the shower, she immediately felt her face flame.

"Katherine Beckett! Are you blushing?" he asked her.

"No," she answered.

"You so totally are! You're blushing! Perhaps you were recalling my offer from the other day?" he said happily. "I'm still happy to help you and be equally as naked as you at the time however, I'm fairly certain that you'd be more comfortable in the tub and that I probably wouldn't be much help in the shower," he said honestly.

She smiled at him. "No, I don't think either of us would be much help to me in the shower," she reddened further but allowed it to be so.

"I'll go run the tub," Rick jumped out of the bed and across his room into the ensuite. Kate just shook her head and smiled. He was telling her the truth. He really _is_ a gentleman.

She had been certain when she arrived with Esposito the other day that Rick would find a way to see her body by _helping _her, and his arguments regarding their seeing each other naked had been compelling. So naturally this morning she had imagined that it wouldn't be such a bad thing, it would be a natural progression. One she was sure Lanie would be proud of.

Rick returned from the ensuite. "Baths ready," he said. The first thing Kate noticed was that he was only in his boxer briefs. She hadn't really had a chance yet to see him sans shirt, so she admired the way his toned body appeared, natural. He wasn't built like a body builder but he was muscular, he had nice pectoral muscles, and a toned stomach with a hint of a six pack, not to mention those oblique muscles that moved down around his hips.

Before she had time to really take everything in Rick had picked her up bridle style and carried her off to the bathroom. She was only wearing Rick's button down and a pair of panties.

"Really Rick, you don't have to carry me everywhere," she said with not so much fight in her voice.

"I know, but I figured it would make things easier," she accepted his reasoning.

He placed her down on the closed toilet seat and began to start undoing his top that she was still wearing.

"I think I can probably handle it from here Rick," she stilled his hand on the second button and looked at him.

"I'm sure you can," he smirked. "But look at the tub."

Kate looked over and for the first time took in the bathtub. It was huge. No wonder it had taken him so long to run her a bath.

"Oh." She stated dumbly.

"Exactly," he said. "Even if you could undress yourself and move over to the tub you'd never be able to get yourself in safely without damaging the cast," he stated matter of fact.

"So I guess you finally get to see me naked, huh Castle?" she whispered not making eye contact.

Rick was worried; she hadn't called him Castle since she had arrived here. That couldn't be good.

"Yeah, I didn't really think this through, I sort of only realised after I'd run the bath," he said sheepishly.

What he said seemed to have calmed her spirits because she just smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Rick, even if you put me in the bath, look at how big it is! I won't be able to rest my foot at the end of the tub, it'd still be half a foot away, I mean I am tall, but not _that_ tall," she huffed.

"I have a solution!" he spouted.

"Well? Go on then," Kate insisted.

"Okay well you know how I was suggesting yesterday that you'd need my help to shower and you said it wasn't exactly fair. Well, if I were in the tub with you, you would be able to lay back on me and the cast would reach the end of the tub!" he said excitedly.

Kate smiled at his boyish antics. He was right, that would work. She didn't necessarily feel comfortable with Rick seeing her naked, I mean they hadn't even been intimate yet, which was a miracle. Being in the bath together, naked, certainly would put strain on the inactive part of their partnership.

"Okay Rick, answer me this. If you're in the tub, how do I get in?" it was a reasonable question. Rick's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened.

"Easy, we get in at the same time," he said crossing his arms in victory.

Kate was all out of arguments so she nodded her head at him and sighed.

They were going to bathe together.


	11. Chapter 11

"_Okay Rick, answer me this. If you're in the tub, how do I get in?" It was a reasonable question. Rick's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened._

"_Easy, we get in at the same time," he said crossing his arms in victory._

_Kate was all out of arguments so she nodded her head at him and sighed. _

_They were going to bathe together._

Kate undid the rest of the buttons on her top and slipped it from her shoulders. She looked up at Rick who was gazing upon her intently. He reached out to touch her, _she should have known he would get physical _but he didn't touch her breasts, his hand moved across the bruised skin of her ribs intently.

"Kate I –-."

"No. Don't think about what happened, okay? I'm here and I'm alright. We've both been in the wars lately and we are lucky, but we cannot dwell on it," she told him firmly.

He looked up at her and nodded, silently agreeing with her. He was knelt down in front of her from scanning her injuries and so took it upon himself to free her of her last remaining garment. He kept his eyes on her eyes and helped out of her panties and through them over his shoulder.

"You're beautiful Kate," he said sincerely.

He helped her to stand up and turned her around so he was behind her and they were both facing the bathtub.

"Umm, Rick, aren't you forgetting something?" she smiled to herself.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Well, you did promise me equal nudity and since you just got a free show I don't see why you can't return the favour," she replied matter of fact.

Rick knew he wasn't getting away with anything so he returned Kate to her sitting position and stood in front of her. She was staring up at him, waiting.

Rick sighed and put his thumbs into his underwear and slowly pulled them off revealing himself to her. He heard a gasp, and smiled. It seemed that Kate did not do as he had done and had just got an eyeful. Only, he honestly wasn't all that worried about her seeing.

Kate couldn't help herself "Wow." Was all she managed getting out and she still hadn't recovered and was staring quite unabashedly.

"Impressed?" Rick asked her happily posing like Captain America.

Kate was embarrassed that she was so open in her admiration of his body but couldn't tear her eyes away. He was _perfect_. She had always known Rick to be a burly type of man but even having seen him before without his shirt she had not realised how strong he was or how muscular. She was almost as tall as him so even though he really was a giant he was not intimidating. He was definitely twice her size though in every other way.

Rick didn't seem to realise that she was taking in his body as a whole and Kate was sure that he thought her admiration was all penis related. He wasn't wrong she thought that part of his anatomy was beautiful but he was as a whole quite intoxicating. All man and he was _hers. _

She smiles. "definitely impressed Rick, you're so much hotter under your expensive suits then you let on."

Rick kissed her softly before picking her up and stepping into the huge bath. He continued to hold her in the air as he sat down trying to figure out how to make sure they got into position without getting her cast wet.

"God, Rick, you're much stronger than you appear," Kate gasped.

"You're not that heavy," he replied placing her foot at the other end outside of the tub and letting her good foot rest in the water.

He leaned back with her and they both sighed, and then giggled at the lengths they went to just to have a bath.

"This feels great," Kate admitted.

"Yeah," Rick smiled and relaxed.

After a while the water started to cool down and Kate decided that she had better actually wash before the water was cold. She picked up the soap from its holder, lathered it and started applying it to her skin.

Rick felt Kate's movements and opened his eyes to see she was soaping up. Fantasy number one, he thought to himself.

"Can I?" he asked.

Kate smirked; she could feel the stirrings of his arousal against her back.

"We can't have sex in the water with my foot in a cast, it would be dull," she answered.

She heard Rick's gasp and smiled to herself knowing she had surprised him, _such an easy mark. _

"N-no, I meant can I soap you up?" he mumbled.

"Oh, certainly," she told him as she passed him the soap.

She could hear him swallow and realised he had not expected her to agree.

"Just don't go complaining to me when you can't finish what you started," she warned him.

"Who says we can't finish?" he smiled wickedly.

"My ribs say so Rick, as much as I would like to right now the movement would be too painful," she sighed disappointedly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," he told her sheepishly. "Wait, you're turned on by this too?"

Kate laughed out loud at his surprise. "Of course I am Rick, why wouldn't I be? I'm in a hot tub with a sexy man who is clearly aroused and naked!"

"I thought you were just cold," he sniggered.

"I'm sorry?" Kate asked.

"Sorry, bad joke. It's just your breasts peaked when I touched them and I wondered whether it was because of me or not," he whispered.

"Oh, well it's all you Rick. However, we shouldn't encourage it, I'm not up to anything physical in this state, no matter how much I want to," she rested her head against his shoulder.

Kate relaxed feeling Rick's soapy hands on her body, she felt the tingle between her legs but knew it would have to be ignored. Or not, Rick's hands were moving dangerously closer to her thighs under the water. Having her leg up out of the tub only gave him perfect access and she gasped as he touched her there.

He kissed her neck and kept his left hand playing with her breasts while his right hand was buried deep between her legs. It wasn't long before she was gasping and arching her back slightly.

"Did I hurt your ribs?" Rick asked as she panted softly against his shoulder.

"No, that was my fault, I shouldn't have arched my back," she replied.

"Yeah, but you couldn't exactly help it," he answered.

"So really it was a chain of events, you made me orgasm which in turn led me to arch my back which hurt my already injured ribs," she knew he'd be angry with himself. "Don't worry Rick, it was a good kind of hurt, totally worth it, otherwise I would have been moody all day," she smiled.

"So you mean when you are nasty to me at the precinct all I had to do was f-."

"Don't even say itx" she had reached behind her and slammed her hand over his mouth" she could feel his lips forming into a smile below her hand and then he kissed it and she took it away.

"We better get out of the bath, you need to eat so you can have more of your pain meds," he told her.

"Alright."

Rick carefully lifted her above the water again and then managed to balance and stand up stepping out of the tub. He slowly placed Kate down on the floor until her feet were touching the ground. She wrapped her hands around his neck and leant up to kiss him feeling his length pressed between them still.

"You know Rick, fair is fai,r" she looked down at his erection.

Whilst hugging him she asked him to turn around in her embrace so he was facing the tub.

"Close your eyes," she told him.

He shut his eyes, and Kate moved her hands down his chest from behind until she reached him. He gasped and she kissed his back and rested her head against it. Then she set to work stroking him from base to tip.

It wasn't long before he reached his peak flung his head back and groaned. Kate smiled and cleaned them up with the remaining bath water.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Castle whispered to her as they helped dry each other off.

"Help me get dressed Rick and then we can go and make breakfast for Alexis," she told him.

"Okay," he picked her up and proceeded back out to the bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: back by popular demand. Sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus.**

_Previously: _

"_Help me get dressed Rick and then we can go and make breakfast for Alexis" she told him. _

"_Okay" he picked her up and proceeded back out to the bedroom._

"You know, you don't have to keep carrying me Rick," Kate sighed.

"Oh, I know. Like I told you before, you weigh barely anything and I enjoy holding you," he smiled, placing her gently on the bed.

"You don't think...," Kate trailed off, a crease forming on her brow.

"It's only just after eight o'clock Kate, unless Alexis did happen to be up when we were and realised we were in here together there is no way she would suspect we'd been ruffling some feathers," he smiled cheekily.

Kate could only look away biting her lip. Rick could see her hesitation and the embarrassment she is feeling at having forgotten that Alexis was in the house.

"Kate, honesty, there is nothing to worry about. We weren't even loud," he whispers helping her into her clothing.

"I guess I just wasn't sure, I was kind of out of my mind and when I remembered that Alexis was here I was horrified. I can't understand why it hit me so hard. I'm generally not loud at all. I guess in my mind I just feel that with you I'd lose all control," she babbled honestly.

Rick can't wipe the smile off his face, "I take you out of this world do I?"

"I suppose that is the only thing you'll take away from what I was saying" she rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Not at all," he replied, "In fact, I will also take away that you've imagined us together before and that you believe I'd make you lose control".

She looked at him this time. Perhaps she had said too much, she blushed.

"Don't be embarrassed, I used to think about us _all_ the time" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"You don't think about us now?" she asked him whilst buttoning up one of his shirts.

"It's different now," he tells her.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Well, I don't have to imagine anymore. I can just draw from things that have happened between us in reality. Or I can imagine things that we haven't done with a lot more accuracy," he winked.

Kate blushed.

"Of course, I generally try to keep my fantasies out of mind when we are together. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself," he explained.

"Rick we have to stop talking about sex. You're going to make this harder for us," she stood up linking her hands behind his neck and resting her forehead against his.

"I know. I'm sorry. We agreed to take things slow and I can't even control myself long enough to look after you properly," he was disappointed with himself.

"It takes two Rick; I was in that as much as you. It's hard not to be intimate with you when we've danced around each other for so long. It's even worse to finally admit something and then not be able to follow through when you're in the moment," she was disappointed that the first time they'd been intimate she couldn't give her all.

"I know, believe me. We've done well though so far. I mean I almost got blown up into pieces, and you were almost crushed by obesity. I'm surprised we didn't crack earlier," he supplies.

"I know I was a bit distant with you the past week. It's just; I wasn't expecting to react so strongly to what happened. It bothered me at first how much I couldn't cope with the idea that we might not always be together," Kate admitted.

"How do you feel about that now?" he asks not having realised any of this before now.

"I'm not afraid of loving you," she kept her eyes focused on his.

"You love me?" Rick exclaimed.

"I know I've never said it, but I've felt it. For a long time Rick," she tells him.

"Wow. It's just. Wow. I really didn't think you'd be the first one to say it," he sounds beside himself.

Kate, not sure how to take his reply to her heart felt confession; is confused.

"Well, actually you did say it first," she tells him, matter of fact.

"What?" Rick is puzzled.

"The other day in fact," she smiles at him. "We were speaking on the phone, I suppose it is something that you say regularly when you finish speaking to Alexis so it's no wonder you didn't realise you'd said it, and it is what I suspected all along; that it was just automatic," Kate explains.

"I do mean it though; I've felt that way about you for a long time. I mean, I didn't realise that I said it to you, but I wouldn't say it to just anyone on the phone Kate," he smiles at her like the ideas is incredulous.

"I suppose this means we love each other then," Kate decides.

"We are in so much trouble then," Rick tells her earnestly.

"Why's that?" Kate asks him.

"Two people who are genuinely in love with one another? People who have felt strong romantic feelings for a long time? Who aren't blinded by fame or beauty? That is bound to be the most powerful romance of all. Certainly one that I have never experienced," he tells her, his voice laced with emotion.

"You have had bad luck in the past Rick, but I don't love you because of your money or your fame, in fact I rather love you despite these things. I've never seeked either and certainly wouldn't put myself in a position I am uncomfortable in if I wasn't one hundred percent committed to us".

"This is why I love you Kate," he kisses her. "Our relationship is built on trust, and mutual respect. We know each other. I've never known any other woman the way I know you, you're it for me Kate," he tells her seriously.

The turn in the conversation has flustered Kate, she wasn't afraid to love him anymore but she certainly wasn't prepared to realise how serious their love is. This was one of those relationships that start because it wants to end in marriage, in a family. She wants those things, can certainly imagine those things, especially with Castle.

"I know we say we don't want to rush, but we've known each other for over two years Kate. I'm happy to go with the flow, but I don't want to waste time with you not knowing my intentions," he holds her in their embrace.

"You want to know if we are on the same page." Kate asks.

"Exactly, I want you to understand, to know, that I want everything with you Kate Beckett. I want you to be a part of my family, I want to marry you. I want us to add to this family, make perfect children together. I want to make love to you and only you for the rest of my life," he finishes.

Kate is teary at his openness, the fact that he has read her well enough to know that the desires he has and that he is expressing to her are things that she wants.

"I want those things too," she tells him and he wipes a stray tear from her cheek.

"but...?" he asks.

There is only silence as he watches Kate think. Then she looks up at him and smiles.

"There is no but, I just want those things too."

"Good to know," Rick tells her tightly, reigning in his own emotions.

At this point they hear Alexis making her way downstairs. "I'm going to go make a start on breakfast," Kate says.

Rick attempts to pick her up, "Actually Rick, I'd like to do this on my own," she tells him.

"It's really no trouble," he complains.

"I agree," she stops him from moving to pick her up again. "Your daughter however, would not," she supplies.

Rick begs to differ but he is cut off when Kate replies, "You're naked Rick," as though it is the most obvious thing in the world.

At his genuine surprise and his glance downwards she can't help but chuckle as she slowly make her say out of the room limping and without her crutches.

* * *

"Good morning Alexis," Kate says as she approaches the girl who is sitting at the counter eating some fruit.

"Morning Kate, how are you feeling?" Alexis asks.

"Still sore from all the bruising, but the ankle is fine, it only aches occasionally and I have pain medication for that," she explains.

It was slightly awkward conversation between them as Rick wasn't there yet and Kate had been sleeping in the same bed with him and Alexis certainly wasn't going to ask how Kate slept.

"I'm sorry if this is awkward, me being here," Kate tells her.

"Don't be, I don't mean for things to be awkward, I guess this will just take some getting used to. I'm happy for you and Dad, really," Alexis adamantly tells the detective.

"That's great to hear Alexis; I didn't want to step on anyone's toes. Things are still so new with your Dad and I and even I find it a bit different. I'm used to living on my own and I certainly didn't think I would be staying here like this so soon," Kate explains awkwardly.

"Don't worry Kate, I understand. Though, if you do feel awkward about, well about _that_ you could always have the spare room next to mine, it is quiet up there now that grams has moved out with her boyfriend and I'm sure Dad would understand," Alexis tells her.

"I'll keep that in mind," Kate replies not really wanting to be away from Rick but happy that Alexis is concerned about her wellbeing and making her comfortable in her home.

"Since Dad is taking so long do you want to help me start some breakfast?" Alexis asks Kate, "As long as you're not too sore," she adds.

"Of course," Kate replies, "that was actually what I was meant to be doing when I came out here," she smiles.

"Bacon and eggs then?" Alexis asks.

"Sounds great, you get the bacon cooking and I'll take care of the eggs," Kate supplies.

"Sure thing," Alexis agrees happily.

Back in the bedroom Rick has gotten dressed and is sitting down on the bed he has just finished making. So much had happened in so little time but he was glad that things were finally working out for them, and that his daughter was accepting of Kate. He planned to make her a part of his family and he couldn't do that without Alexis's blessing. He knew she was excited that they were together but wasn't sure whether or not Alexis would view Kate as permanent. Happy with his answer, moves to join them in the kitchen.

"Sunny side up Rick?" Kate asks him playfully as he sits on a stool in the kitchen.

"Definitely," he replies looking at her lovingly.

The looks are not lost on Alexis who smiles to herself.

* * *

**Thanks for reading.**


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